


Shattered Glass

by Anonymous



Category: Suits (US TV)
Genre: Bar Room Brawl, Fluff, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:13:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28306581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Kudos: 7
Collections: Anonymous





	1. The Sandbar

**Shattered Glass**

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Trevor?”

Mike was eying the bar uncertainly as he stood waiting by the taxi. Trevor paid the driver – his treat after all – and gave Mike an excited grin.

“What’s the matter, bud? It’s just a bar.”

“I’m just getting this overwhelming sense of déjà vu. I mean, the last time we were at a bar – “ And here Mike gave Trevor a pointed look “ – you had some guys that sounded like they were from the Russian Mafia after you,” he said, his mouth set in a concerned frown and he glanced at Trevor with one eyebrow raised. “You don’t need anymore trouble.”

“Don’t worry about it, bro. I’ve learned my lesson. I won’t get into any more trouble. Besides, I’ll be on the bus heading for Montana tomorrow,” Trevor said, throwing a comforting arm around Mike’s shoulders. He could see Mike’s trepidation start to fall away and a slow smile was now lightening his dark mood.

“All right, but remember, Trevor, you may be leaving but if you get up to anything then…. _ I’ll _ have to deal with the fallout,” Mike said, pointing a finger into Trevor’s chest. A grimace pinched his face as he spoke the last sentence and he was pleased to see Trevor turn serious. Harvey’s name hung in the air between them, to fill the pause Mike had left.

“Yeah, trust me, buddy, I don’t want you to get on the wrong side of your boss on my behalf either,” Trevor replied.

Mike relaxed at that and smiled, satisfied that there would be no trouble tonight. And to make sure of it, he would limit their stay to just a couple of drinks. It was a ‘school night’ after all and neither one could really afford to get smashed. On first appearance it appeared to be an innocent enough bar – neatly kept and the occupants were staying seated in their chairs even as they chatted up and laughed Thirsty Thursday away – it was certainly not half as well to do as some of the ritzy bars Harvey was sure to attend, but the crowd here was hardly full of piss poor alcoholics.

Trevor slapped down a twenty on the counter and said to the bald bartender, “Two shots of bourbon please.”

The young lawyer sighed heavily. “Already starting off heavy? This is the only one for both of us. Neither one of us needs a hangover tomorrow.”

“Speak for yourself,” Trevor replied. His eyes rolled up into his head as he threw the shot back. He cringed at the burn in his throat, but then he grinned and nudged Mike’s elbow. “Don’t make me take that from you. C’mon, Mike, you’re a grown up now. Drink the grown-up drinks.”

Mike just gave him an exasperated look and drained the shot even faster than Trevor. He bent over coughing at the burn and rough feel of the liquor in his throat.

“All right,” Mike said, once he found his voice, “that’s enough for me. Michelob Ultra, please.”

Trevor huffed and muttered, “Already going for the pansy ass beer. Man, live a little. He asked for another shot from the bartender and downed it the moment it reached his hand.

“Hey, I can almost guarantee you that I’ll be spending tomorrow reading briefs or doing research for a case. Try doing that with a hangover.”

“Okay, I’ll stop badgering you. I just, ya know, wanna have some fun. This is going to be our last night to party. I may never see you again,” Trevor said. He gave Mike such an adorably affectionate look that Mike could feel his anger at Trevor’s wrongdoings ease a little more.

Mike took another swig of his beer to cover his own emotions, and he said, “Don’t be ridiculous, man. Of course we’ll see each other again. Just make sure that there isn’t a set of prison bars between us.”

“Are you saying you wouldn’t use your lawyer skills to get me out?” Trevor asked. He summoned the bar for yet  _ another _ shot and drank it as quickly as the others.

“I guess it all depends on what you’re in for,” Mike replied, but he felt an uncomfortable twinge in his stomach at the thought. He had no doubt Harvey would counsel letting his friend rot in prison.

“Hey, I gotta piss. I’ll be back,” Trevor said and slid off the stool at the bar. He grinned at a very beautiful black girl with curly hair and Mike rolled his eyes as he heard him say, “Hi, beautiful.”

He shook his head in exasperation that his friend could not resist flirting even when he was ten hours from boarding the greyhound bus. However, as he waited for Trevor to return and continued nursing the same beer, he could not help but notice that some of the bar’s patrons were starting to give him cross looks and most of them happened to be black men. There was the odd white man with blonde hair who threw him dark looks and Mike unconsciously hunched his shoulders.  _ Oh shit, is this bar in gang territory?  _ So this part of town wasn’t that great, but it was still a sight safer than even the part of town where Mike lived and he often had to bike to and from work at night. However, as he waited for Trevor to come back, an unsettling feeling stole over him and he could not keep a shudder from running up his spine. Somehow he knew this night was not going to end well. 

Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, Mike called the one person he felt might be able to help them.

* * *

When Mike called, Harvey happened to be lying on his bed reading. Ever one to follow the culture of the rich, he felt it might be prudent to be familiar with as many of the classics of literature as he could think of. He could drop quotes in conversation when he was at dinner with a client but, and most importantly, it would be a great way to say lines that in all likelihood would fly right over Mike’s head and help keep that godly aura around him that he so carefully cultivated. 

Shakespeare’s collection had been the first for him to tackle, which had also been made easier by virtue of it being every high school’s favorite literature to shove in their students’ faces. He still held fond memories of  _ Hamlet _ at least and he had, within the past two years, gained a greater understanding of  _ Macbeth _ after his horrible effort to read it in his sophomore year in high school. He didn’t even touch  _ Romeo and Juliet _ , writing it off as teenage garbage with the emotional capacity of a fly and because he had already read it. He still was not quite sure how Violet could have passed for a man through the entirety of  _ Twelfth Night _ and still surprise everybody at the end, including her own brother. He had read the play at least three times to understand even just half of it and felt he probably put in more effort than most of his rich clients would ever bother and called it good. 

Just two months prior he had decided to tackle the Greek classics and was more than a little perturbed as well as amused at all of the clever and creative ways that Greeks could think of to kill off the characters of myth. He had started with Aeschylus’  _ The Oresteia  _ and felt that it might quite possibly be the best of all the Greek plays –  _ Antigone _ fell right about in the same category as  _ Romeo and Juliet _ ;  _ Hippolytus _ was…odd, and  _ Ajax _ had only been okay in his humble opinion – until he read  _ The Bacchae _ . He had enjoyed that particular play immensely because he had subconsciously substituted Donna into the role of Agave who led the wild women that would rip apart any man who got in their way. It sounded like something she might do.

After rolling through  _ The Iliad, The Odyssey _ he ran into a swamp of text that was Virgil’s  _ The Aeneid _ . When he had finally slogged through that he had decided to pick up some Faulkner at the recommendation of one of his older clients and  _ The Sound and the Fury _ was the book he was currently reading. But reading was probably stretching what he was actually doing. He didn’t even know when he had started but his phone ringing brought him to the awareness that he had long lapsed into a coma and had been squinting at the text only an inch away from his eyes stuck on…he glanced down at the page number and groaned: 7. He snatched the phone off of his night stand – it had been a force of habit to put it there after he had missed an important client’s call at 3 am and had been consequently fired from representing afterwards – glanced at the caller ID and said, “This had better be good, Mike.”

“Were you asleep? It’s only 9 o’clock.”

“I swear, if you make an old man jokes right now, I will hang up and refuse to answer all subsequent phone calls,” Harvey replied, really wishing he could banish the drowsiness from his eyes and voice.

“Okay, okay. I’m calling because…well…”

Harvey perked a little at the waves of guilt that washed out of the phone and he narrowed his eyes as he stared out the window in his room, “You’re getting into trouble.”

“No! Trevor wanted to go out for a last round of drinks.”

Harvey squeezed his eyes shut and counted to ten forwards and backwards. “What did I tell you, kid? That friend of yours is not only trouble itself but a trouble  _ magnet _ . Drop him like he’s loose change.”

“Do you even hear what you’re saying? Besides, it was just a few drinks.”

“It never is just a few drinks.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve had a shot of bourbon and a beer so far. I have every intention of staying completely sober here. I’m calling because,” and here Mike’s voice dropped so low that Harvey could barely hear him, “the people at the bar are giving me…very unfriendly looks.”

“Please tell me you’re not in a bar in a bad neighborhood.”

“I didn’t think it was a bad neighborhood.”

“It’s New York. What neighborhood is good? If you’re so worried, why don’t you just leave? What do you need to call me for?” There was a pause and just when Harvey was certain Mike was about to answer, he said, “Wait, let me guess: you tried to talk him out of drinks altogether but because you have no backbone – “

“C’mon, Harvey!”

“Fine, because he just so happens to be your weak spot, you caved and because of your weak stance to him he cannot possibly see the reason to leave.”

“You didn’t have to put it quite like that,” Mike said in a sullen tone.

“Listen, kid, I tell it like it is. And you didn’t deny it.”

“Fine. I’m calling you because he listens to you! If you came and made us leave, he would without a second thought. Please, just get down here. It’s The Sandbar on 5 th street.”

“I know where you are. Try to at least get Trevor out the door in one piece and I’ll pick you guys up.”

He disconnected the call without hearing a reply and slid out of bed, glad that he had started reading in his jeans and t-shirt. Grabbing his phone and wallet, he looked at his keys for a moment and decided that if the bar was that hostile he would  _ not _ risk one of his beautiful cars taking any damage and then he reached into his closet for his leather jacket and ducked down to grab a particularly grubby pair of boots. If he was going to go to a middle class bar, he better damn well look it.

Even as much as he felt the stirrings of annoyance at Mike for continually hanging out with that loser he called a best friend, he couldn’t help but feel grateful for the kid. He had saved him from reading any more of that book for the night. Harvey couldn’t help but throw the inanimate object a particularly violent glare, before he stepped out of his condo to go and save Mike and Trevor  _ again _ .


	2. Harvey Swoops In

**Chapter 2**

“Trevor, I really think we should go,” Mike said, once his friend had reseated himself at the bar. He had not been quite quick enough before the bartender had handed his friend a rum and coke, heavy on the rum.

“What? We haven’t even been here for more than an hour. Just one more drink,” Trevor said and Mike couldn’t help but be relieved that his friend managed to down half his drink in a single gulp.

“I don’t think it’s good to hang out here much longer. I don’t feel especially…welcome,” Mike said, glancing without turning his head at the four males at the table behind them who appeared to be invested in a game of poker, but he had noticed they kept on throwing him and Trevor suspicious glares.

“Relax, man. Jesus, that law firm turned you into a total tight ass. Why can’t you just have some fun anymore?” Trevor said. Mike shuddered at the darkness and anger in Trevor’s eyes. He had never been an especially pleasant drunk to deal with and, in some strange way, Mike had somehow knew that Trevor found Mike’s new career infuriating. There had been a few times in the last couple of days when Mike felt like his friend was talking down on him like he was a particularly clueless child.

“Trevor, c’mon,” Mike prodded, but Trevor turned away to the beautiful black woman he had complimented from before.

“Hi there. Would you and your friend like a drink?” Trevor asked, smiling at the girl and a white brunette on her other said. 

“No, I’m fine thanks and I’d like you to leave me alone,” she said with a very forced smile that almost appeared to be a grimace to Mike.

“Please, it would be my treat,” Trevor said, already reaching for his wallet and digging out another twenty. “What’s your pleasure? A Cosmopolitan? A Bailey’s?”

“Trevor, no!” He grabbed at his friend's arm and tried to pull him away, but his friend only violently jerked his arm back.

At the same time, one of the blondes at the table rushed over and towered over Trevor, throwing a protective arm around the black girl. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, talking to my girl?”

“What, does she have a collar with your name on it?” Trevor replied in a snarky manner, standing up to face the man.

Mike could practically feel his teeth chattering with fear as he rushed off his stool so fast he almost knocked it over and threw his arms around Trevor to bodily pull him away. At the same time, the other three men at the poker table got up and caged them from behind and the boyfriend swiped Trevor’s rum and coke off the counter, shattering the glass on the floor.

“Hey,” the bartender yelled, “You’re gonna pay for that! Don’t make me call the cops!”

But for all of his yelling, no one appeared to have heard him as the four men continued to advance on them. Mike was almost sure he heard the other white guy crack his knuckles.

Even as Mike was struggling to hold onto Trevor who slapped at his arms, he turned to the other men and said, “Please, please excuse my friend! He’s an idiot when he’s drunk. I’m sure you’ve seen the type. I promise you will have no more trouble from us tonight. Just let us out.”

“Stop sounding like some pansy ass sissy, Mike, and help me,” Trevor snarled at him, digging his fingernails painfully into Mike’s arm.

“Will you shut the hell up?! I’m trying to get us out of here alive,” Mike screamed back. He finally let go of Trevor, but that was only to grab his jacket and shove his way through the wall of human that had formed around him and he pulled Trevor towards the exit, feeling like he was Moses parting the Red Sea as people fell back from them in horror to make a clear path to the exit. 

Mike gulped in the crisp autumn air from outside and felt like he had passed outside the field of danger. He took the time to wipe the sweat from his forehead and then he turned to start on Trevor, he saw the four men had followed them out onto the street. Mike only just managed to duck out of one of their hands and he grabbed a fistful of Trevor’s jacket to pull him further from the entrance; his friend seemed to have become sobered by the cool air outside and he no longer fought Mike’s grip. They needed to get a taxi fast, but he figured just pulling them both out of harm’s reach was probably the first thing he should do.

Suddenly a taxi pulled up and out climbed Harvey Specter. It was a very different Harvey from what Mike had come to expect, stunned to find his mentor had not donned on his usual three-piece power suit ready to outsmart the villains this time, but instead was in a pair of jeans and a dark gray t-shirt and work boots not dissimilar from what Mike might wear in his free time. Only the sleek leather jacket hinted at the untold fortune this man had and, as per usual, he gave Mike a look that said,  _ What have you got yourself into this time?  _ In the next moment, Harvey had stepped around the pair to block their pursuers.

“Gentleman, what seems to be the problem here?” Harvey said smoothly as though he were trying to talk to a suicidal from stepping off the roof. He drew himself up so that all four men had to look up into his eyes. He prided himself on being able to decipher any truth from a man’s face and the one truth he deciphered from all four of these men is that they were drunk on testosterone more than they were alcohol. 

“That shithead hit on our women,” the blonde man said; he clenched his jaw truculently and pointed a finger behind Harvey. The older lawyer didn’t need to turn to know he was talking about Trevor and he silently thanked whatever God there was that his associate had enough sense to not get drunk enough to pursue attached women.

“It was probably just an honest mistake. Where were you?” 

“We were at a table playing poker.”

“So they appeared unattached? See? An honest mist – “

“He argued with us,” the other blonde man spoke up from his friend’s side.

Harvey sighed and closed his eyes, wishing quietly that he could manifest into St. Peter the day Trevor died so that he could banish him to the 9 th Circle of Hell. “He’s clearly had one too many drinks, gentleman. I’m sure your judgment has been stunted by alcohol too at one point. There’s no need for this to esca – “

“Serves you assholes right! I think they enjoyed talking to me more th – “ Mike’s face had paled to the hue of a sheet of paper and he practically pounced on Trevor, clamping his hand over his mouth to get him to shut up.

Harvey turned toward Trevor with a murderous glare and was already balling his fist to punch the man’s lights out and then a horrendous pain burst into his skull and all he could see was white. 

“Harvey!”

Mike’s scream sounded right next to his ear, but he could not see a thing as he clenched his teeth and clutched the back of his head. In the next instance, the pain lessened enough for him to realize he’d pinched his eyes shut and somehow ended up on the ground, still clutching at the back of his head. His vision tilted wildly and he tried desperately to stay upright, even as he felt Mike grab his leather jacket, attempting to drag him into the door of the waiting cab. 

In all the confusion and noise he could hear the distant wail of sirens and slowly allowed himself to be coaxed into the cab.

“Harvey? Harvey! Are you okay?” Mike came into focus next to him, his white pallor now virtually gray even in the dim light of the taxi.

“Will you quit yelling? I’m right next to you. I’m already feeling better. No need to worry,” Harvey said. He could feel the blood roaring in his ears and he jerked away when he felt Mike touch his head, sending another wave of pain through it. 

“You’re bleeding.”

When Mike held his hand up, Harvey was shocked to see it was entirely covered in blood. He glanced down at his own hands and saw they were also covered thickly with the sticky substance.


	3. The Hospital

**Chapter 3**

“Take us to the nearest hospital,” Mike commanded to the driver in a surprisingly strong and calm voice.

“Hey, is your boss going to be okay?” Trevor asked, apparently having completely sobered up by now.

“You bleed on my seat, you pay,” the cab driver replied in a thick accent.

“Just take us there,” Mike snapped, but Harvey could see he was under strain as he struggled to put pressure on the head wound in the tight confines of the cab. Undoubtedly he was wondering if his boss would die and, if he didn’t, whether he would still have a job tomorrow at Pearson Hardman. 

Harvey wouldn’t deny that it was tempting to fire him right there and now. Instead, he said, “Mike, with your clean hand can you reach into my left pocket. My phone’s in there.”

“Who’re you going to call?”

“Donna. She’d kill me if I didn’t tell her I’m going to the hospital.” 

Mike eventually managed to fish it out and Harvey did his best to ignore the smears of blood he was leaving on the touch screen as he brought up her number on speed dial. 

“A little late for a booty call, don’t you think?”

“Donna, I’m on my way to the hospital.”

“Wait, what? Oh my God, what did you do? Please don’t tell me an angry husband caught you sleeping with his wife and shot you?”

“I make a point of not sleeping with married women for that reason,” Harvey replied blandly. “It’s also Thursday; those are my plans for tomorrow night. You’re sidetracking me. I got hit with something in the back of the head trying to save Trevor and Mike.” He threw the pair of them a nasty glare and successfully cowed Trevor. Mike was a little too busy putting pressure on Harvey’s head.

“Okay, first off, Harvey, you don’t need to yell,” Donna replied to him.

“I’m not yelling.”

“I don’t think you realize how loud you’re being. It must be the adrenaline. Second, I cannot believe you stepped in to help Mike, even after you warned him about that friend of his. You should have let him fight his own battles.”

“But then I would have a very dead associate or one in traction. Either way, I would have to hire a new one and we both hate that,” Harvey said.

Donna sighed heavily but she said, “You’re right; I would hate to go through all those applicants again. Anyway, good luck at the hospital. Let me know if anything comes up.”

There was a stunned silence, but eventually Harvey’s racing brain managed to connect the words to form a single meaning. “Wait a minute. You’re not coming to see me?” 

“It sounds like you’ve got everything under control there.”

“I’m the patient and you’ve got the wonderful privilege of dictating my health care. You really want Mike stepping in for that in case I fall unconscious?”

She did not miss the pleading in Harvey’s voice but decided not to comment on it, sensing that it was probably as a result of his head injury. She also decided not to point out that he had completely failed to realize that there was no way in hell she  _ would not _ be there. So instead, she said, “Oh, fine, you big baby. I’ll be down there in twenty minutes.”

“We’re here,” Mike said and he reached around Harvey to get the door to the cab and he pushed on Harvey to get out.

“We’re at Mount Sinai,” Harvey said, as he glanced up at the glaring hospital letters and turned off his phone. Mike was tugging insistently on his jacket until Harvey finally slapped his hand away. “Will you knock it off? I’m moving. And calm down before they have to admit you for a panic attack.” Slowly and steadily, he climbed up the stairs to the entrance. He couldn’t help but notice that Trevor lingered further behind them, with his head down and his hands shoved into his pockets. The perfect picture of contriteness. 

Harvey briefly considered going ahead with his verbal castration right here, and then he decided he would deal with Trevor later when he felt the blood from his wound slide down his neck and under his shirt collar. He needed to save his clothes first.

Even though there appeared to be a surprising lack of patients in the waiting area, they were told to have a seat. When the receptionist had realized he was still bleeding, she gave them a pure white towel that Harvey almost felt bad for soiling when he snatched it up with his bloody fingers. He was not sure how long he sat there waiting for a doctor to see him, but he could feel the fatigue from reading of  _ The Sound and the Fury  _ from earlier come crashing back on him. He did recall Donna showing up at some point in dark brown pants that he thought looked especially nice on her figure, but the conversation between her and Mike had floated completely over his head. But she took over tending to his wound and when she prodded him he forced himself to pay attention.

“Wow, you are out of it,” Donna said, clicking her tongue at him. She applied more pressure and she felt him twinge from the pain. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Harvey replied. He turned his head to her as far as she would allow and he smiled at her. “Thanks for coming.”

“It sounded like you needed a woman to run things,” she replied and squeezed his arm affectionately.

“It’s what I pay you to do,” Harvey replied. “I kind of figured you wouldn’t stand for another person to weasel in on your job.”

“You’ve got a point there,” Donna said and she took a moment to pull the towel back and look at his head, but she hastily reapplied the towel.

“How does it look back there?”

“I saw this great big jagged line just kind of oozing blood. You don’t seem to be bleeding as much as you were, but it still hasn’t stopped. I was half expecting to see your skull shining through,” she said and for the first time he saw the worry in her eyes.

“I feel fine. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t actually get headaches when you get hit in the head. I don’t feel any pain,” Harvey said. When Donna applied more pressure he rephrased, “Okay, the wound is tender but my head is just fine.”

“If your head’s not hurting, you don’t have a concussion which I find incredible. Whoever hit you was not messing around. Did you see who it was?”

He stared at her with an incredulous look. “My back was to them. I didn’t see anything.”

“Just wondering if you could corroborate Mike, because he saw who hit you.”

“I remember hearing police sirens before I was pulled into the taxi.”

“They’ll probably be here soon enough to take a statement from you. Were there a lot of people around?”

“Yeah, quite a few outside the bar.”

“Then those guys have probably been arrested by now,” Donna said, sounding very relieved.

“Mr. Specter?” A slightly pudgy man with a handsome face, brown goatee, and a white coat was standing a few feet from them and gave Harvey a wan smile. “I’m Dr. Phil Noble. Will you please follow me to exam room 2.”

Harvey stiffly rose to his feet, silently cursing crappy hospital waiting chairs, and followed the doctor as advised. Donna was right next to him when she suddenly halted and he turned to see what had caught her attention. 

“You’re going to sit right there like a good boy and  _ wait _ ,” Donna said to Mike who had apparently stood up to follow them. She gave Harvey a gentle push to keep going and he went on ahead, trusting Donna to handle the situation.

“But…” 

“We don’t need you in the room with us. You haven’t quite earned the trust necessary to be privy to Harvey’s examinations and after what happened tonight, I think it’s pretty clear why,” Donna said, her eyes flashing at the exasperated look on Mike’s face. “You still have a ways to go, pup.”

She turned to follow Harvey once she saw Mike seated again and quietly seethed about the person that was Mike Ross. She really hadn’t known what Harvey was thinking when he hired the kid but, like a good friend and secretary, she had not questioned his decision. At least not publically. Harvey heard plenty about it in private, but overall he had maintained that Mike was valuable at least for his incredible memory and reading skills. But it was stunts like this that kept her from accepting Mike into the fold of their little group. Harvey was practically bending over backwards for the kid, not turning him in for the pot, not  _ firing _ him even after he broke their promise that he would not do drugs while he was working for Harvey, and now bailing him and his so called best friend out of two of their own manufactured messes. The kid only deserved so many chances and she was running out of patience with him.

Harvey, to his credit, was actually sitting on the exam table, quietly letting the doctor prod and poke his head, only flinching occasionally. He grinned at her when he saw her and said, “Put the kids in their place, honey?”

She sighed at his words, but she couldn’t keep from returning his smile. “Yes, dear. They have instructions to stay precisely where they are or they’re grounded for eternity,” she replied, standing a few feet away and waiting while the doctor continued his examination. 

There were a few more minutes of activity and she could see Harvey flinching a little bit more as the doctor scrubbed a little bit harder at his head. Finally the doctor ended his silence, “Sorry about that but overall, the wound is clear and clean and I do not foresee any future difficulties. I would advise getting an x-ray just to make sure that if there is a skull fraction then it isn’t particularly large. It looks like you were hit with a blunt object: a large flashlight, a baseball bat, a nightstick. Something like that.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Harvey said and then he raised an eyebrow at the doctor and gave him a questioning look. “I don’t feel any pain unless you touch the wound. Is that normal?”

“Well,” Dr. Noble considered his answer for a moment, “Yes and no. In contrast to the rest of your body, there are far fewer nerve endings on your head. So your lack of pain is to be expected, but that you have neither a concussion nor a larger skull fracture is surprising. You would be feeling a very bad headache if you had either a concussion, a bleed, or intracranial pressure on your skull. However, I do believe you should get an x-ray, and then I will make a ruling on whether the MRI is truly necessary or not.” 

“Fine,” Harvey said and slid off the exam table and gestured at the door. “Lead the way.”

When Donna started to follow Harvey, the doctor turned to her and said, “I’m afraid only private personnel are allowed beyond these doors. Feel free to wait in the lobby or in the exam room if you’re so inclined.” 

Donna glanced over at the contrite forms of Mike and Trevor and decided she would rather eat eel before she sat with them at the moment. She headed back into the exam room to wait on Harvey.

Mike had glanced up when the exam room door had opened, hoping that they could be out of here, but then he saw Harvey, still clutching the towel to his head, follow the doctor to parts unknown in the hospital.  _ Probably to get an x-ray _ , he thought gloomily and hoped this didn’t mean that Harvey had a serious injury. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he knew Harvey was going to be laid up in the hospital as a result of his stupidity.

“Mike, who is that woman?” Trevor asked him. When Mike glanced up at him, he nodded toward the exam room that Donna had disappeared into again.

“That’s Donna. She’s Harvey’s secretary.”

“She acts like she’s his wife,” Trevor said with a disbelieving look at Mike.

Mike snorted. “They are definitely not married. That’s just the way they are.”

“She looks like she’s gearing up to lecture us like we’re a pair of school kids who got caught fighting in the schoolyard,” Trevor said with a roll of his eyes and a shake of his head.

Mike stared at him in incredulity. “You act like we don’t deserve it! My  _ boss _ could have a concussion or a fractured skull on my behalf. Hell, on  _ your _ behalf! How can you possibly act like  _ nothing _ is wrong?! I could be fired!”

Trevor winced as if Mike’s angry words could slice through him. “Hey, I’m sorry, man. I just wanted us to have a last fling. I mean, not all of them have turned out this bad. I can only think of two that could come close.”

The young lawyer shook his head. “You know, evade the truth all you want, but I could lose my fucking career over this. Harvey is my one prayer and now it could be gone. Why do you  _ think _ Donna’s looking at us like she’s thinking of how best to serve our bodies?” Mike was staring hard into Trevor’s face until his friend finally looked away. Oh, there was contriteness but Mike did not think it was especially sincere. Of course, Trevor wouldn’t have to deal with the consequences of his screw-ups. He didn’t have anything  _ to _ lose.

Mike refused to speak any longer to Trevor and they sat in silence long after they saw Harvey reappear with the doctor. He didn’t even glance at his associate before he went in and Mike felt his chances sink even further of ever being redeemed.


End file.
